Eric Mangini

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Eric Mangini
Date of birth	January 19, 1971 (age 36)
Place of birth	Hartford, Connecticut
Position(s)	Head Coach
College	Wesleyan University
Awards	NFL 101 2006 AFC Coach of the Year
Records	10-6-0 (Regular Season) 0-1 (Postseason) 10-7-0 (Overall)
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1996 1997-1999 2000-2004 2005 2006-present	Baltimore Ravens (offensive assistant) New York Jets (defensive quality control coach) New England Patriots (defensive backs coach) New England Patriots (defensive coordinator) New York Jets (head coach)

Eric Mangini (born January 19, 1971 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA) is the current head coach of the New York Jets of the National Football League. At the age of 35 he had been the youngest head coach in the NFL, as well as the youngest coach in the the 4 major North American sports including the NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA until the hiring of Lane Kiffin by the Oakland Raiders. He is the youngest head coach in the history of the Jets, and the only head coach to appear on Monday Night Football who was born after Monday Night Football first aired September 21, 1970.

Contents 1 Early History 2 Coaching Career 3 Head Coach of New York Jets 4 Trivia

[edit] Early History

Mangini is a graduate of Bulkeley High School in Hartford, Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and the brother-in-law of Cleveland Indians general manager Mark Shapiro. He played football in high school as a linebacker and later walked on at Wesleyan University. Mangini played nose tackle at Wesleyan and set a school record with 36.5 career sacks, also ranking second in school history in total tackles. Mangini coached a semi-pro team in Melbourne, Australia during a semester abroad. His former head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots graduated from Wesleyan as well, and the two were brothers in the Chi Psi Fraternity.^{[citation needed]}

Mangini worked his way up in the NFL. He began his career as a ball boy with Cleveland at the age of 23, and later became an intern in the public relations department. While working as a ball boy, he was often quoted as saying "no job is too small in the NFL." He worked 18 hours a day in the PR department, and at night he took copies of stats in the copyroom. Bill Belichick, then coach of Cleveland Browns found him there, and liked him so much that he asked the general manager if they had another job for him. Mangini was given the smallest coaching job in the Browns, putting film together for the coordinators.

[edit] Coaching Career

Prior to coaching the Jets, Mangini worked for the New England Patriots under Head Coach Bill Belichick, first as their defensive backs coach (2000-2004), and later as their defensive coordinator (2005). Before that he worked with Belichick in 1995 when both were with the Cleveland Browns. Mangini was part of the Baltimore Ravens' inaugural staff in 1996, where he was a quality control/offensive assistant coach. From 1997-1999, he worked with the Jets as a defensive assistant/quality control coach. That was also when Belichick was assistant head coach/secondary coach.

[edit] Head Coach of New York Jets

Mangini was named head coach of the New York Jets on January 17, 2006[1], two days before his 35th birthday, ahead of former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Tice, former New Orleans Saints head coach Jim Haslett, New York Giants defensive coordinator, Tim Lewis and former St. Louis Rams interim head coach Joe Vitt.[2] Many New York newspapers weren't sure if Mangini was too young for the job, but he has become very popular along with the New York Jets success.

Upon taking the Jets job, a feud began with his former mentor Bill Belichick. Mangini secretly tried to take members of the coaching staff with him to New York. He later tried to talk with Deion Branch into joining the Jets while he was under contract with the New England Patriots. The Patriots later filed tampering charges against the Jets because of this incident.[3]

Mangini's first important job was the 2006 NFL Draft. The Jets picked two offensive linemen in the first round, D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold. Another notable pick was the fourth rounder, Leon Washington, whom the Jets selected with a draft choice they received from the Kansas City Chiefs as compensation for former Head Coach Herman Edwards, who was traded to the Chiefs.

On September 10, 2006, Mangini made his regular season debut as head coach. The Jets were the victors in an impressive 23-16 road win against the Tennessee Titans. Mangini was shortly after nicknamed the Penguin by Jets wide receiver Laveranues Coles and has been nicknamed "Eric Mangenius" by Jets' faithful because of his success. [4](pop-up ads) He is also one of four head coaches to have a winning record in his first season with the Jets (Bill Parcells, Al Groh, and Herman Edwards are the others). Mangini finished his rookie season with a 10-6 record, the same as former Jets coach Herman Edwards did in his rookie year. Edwards received a higher salary after the playoffs.[5]

He has shown some daredevil tendencies in his short coaching career. In week 4 against the Indianapolis Colts he went for a touchdown on 4th and goal from the three instead of kicking a field goal. In week 11 against the Chicago Bears he went for an onside kick to start the second half of a scoreless game.

The Jets clinched an AFC wild card spot on December 31, 2006 by beating the Oakland Raiders at home by the score of 23-3, in the final game of the regular season. It marks a remarkable turn around orchestrated by Mangini (who has already received the nickname "Mangenius") and often injured QB Chad Pennington who overcame all odds after sustaining two rotator cuff injuries. Pennington finished the season setting career marks in yards, TD's, completions, and attempts, earning him honors as the 2006 NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

[edit] Trivia

Mangini and his wife Julie (Jules), have two sons, Jake and Luke. They live in a brand new home in Garden City, New York on Long Island, and also own a vacation home in Brewster, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. Eric has been on Elmo's World with Chad Pennington, Ben Graham and Laveranues Coles with Elmo and Dorothy.

Fans nicknamed him "Manginius", "Mangenie", and "ManGreenie" as the Jets neared the playoffs. Also, the day before the game, he would show a boxing fight to use as motivation for his players. This was the subject of a story aired on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, in which Mangini used clips from the boxing movie, Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe, as motivation for his players.

In recognition of the success Mangini had in his first season as head coach of the Jets, Eric was named 2006 AFC Coach of the Year at the NFL 101 Awards.[6] (requires Macromedia Flash)

Preceded by Herman Edwards

New York Jets Head Coach 2006–

Succeeded by Current Coach

New York Titans/Jets Head Coaches
Baugh • Turner • Ewbank • Winner • Shipp • Holtz • Michaels • Walton • Coslet • Carroll • Kotite • Parcells • Groh • Edwards • Mangini

Current Head Coaches of the National Football League
American Football Conference
East	North	South	West
Jauron (Buffalo)	Billick (Baltimore)	Kubiak (Houston)	Shanahan (Denver)
Cameron (Miami)	Lewis (Cincinnati)	Dungy (Indianapolis)	Edwards (Kansas City)
Belichick (New England)	Crennel (Cleveland)	Del Rio (Jacksonville)	Kiffin (Oakland)
Mangini (NY Jets)	Tomlin (Pittsburgh)	Fisher (Tennessee)	Turner (San Diego)
National Football Conference
East	North	South	West
Phillips (Dallas)	Smith (Chicago)	Petrino (Atlanta)	Whisenhunt (Arizona)
Coughlin (NY Giants)	Marinelli (Detroit)	Fox (Carolina)	Linehan (St. Louis)
Reid (Philadelphia)	McCarthy (Green Bay)	Payton (New Orleans)	Nolan (San Francisco)
Gibbs (Washington)	Childress (Minnesota)	Gruden (Tampa Bay)	Holmgren (Seattle)